Let's Talk About Power
a banner with Rising Arts Agency's logo on it hanging in the foyer of arnolfini at our 6th birthday party
We are excited to announce that Rising Arts Agency has been awarded the ‘Collaborate’ fund from the Centre for Cultural Value.
Over the next year, we’ll be working with Andreana Drencheva from King’s College London to research how we can redress unequal power dynamics in the cultural sector.
As you may know, Rising Arts Agency has long scruntinised the unequal distribution of power in the cultural sector. In fact, our very reason for existence is to call out, counter and disrupt these toxic power dynamics.
We do this by representing the underrepresented: insisting that space be made for the young people usually denied a seat at the table. We want to make that space as large as possible, inviting and supporting others to take part and mobilise for social change. And crucially, once we’ve staked our claim, we want to make sure we are given equity and agency.
Of course, we are not alone in this. Grassroots organisations and marginalised creatives are doing this radical work alongside us to challenge the status quo - operating outside the institutional models that characterise our sector.
These more traditional institutions are keen to tap into the radical work of grassroots organisations and marginalised creatives. But, the partnerships they forge are often unequal and exploitative. The former holds the purse strings and power, while the latter does the slow inclusion work of embedded engagement, often while leveraging their personal lived experience as a source of unique knowledge and empathy.
Grassroots organisations can find themselves working in service of - rather than alongside - the larger institutions that have greater resources, but a less progressive approach. This “marriage of convenience” - where radical work is outsourced to grassroots organisations and marginalised creatives is simply not fit-for-purpose.
SO HERE'S OUR QUESTION:
This is where our research comes in. Through the ‘Collaborate’ fund from the Centre for Cultural Value, we are working with researcher Andreana Drencheva, whose work explores how social enterprises, such as Rising Arts Agency, navigate tensions and power dynamics. Together, we came up with this research questions: (prepare yourself, it's wordy):
How do power imbalances manifest for grassroots organisations and marginalised creatives working with cultural sector institutions and how can the impact of these imbalances be removed to increase cultural value for everyone?
Over the next year, we will be exploring and grappling with this question - documenting our learning along the way. Rising Arts Agency is an example of a grassroots ecosystem where marginalised creatives come for support, and where cultural partnerships are being continually modelled. We’re excited to place the lived experiences of ourselves, our community and our peers’ into a rigorous and inclusive research context.
Together, we aim to shift the focus from how marginalised creatives and grassroots organisations can navigate these power imbalances, (which unfairly places the burden on them) - to how these imbalances can be removed entirely. This project will explore the current landscape of “partnerships” in the sector and develop alternative, more equitable models.
Instead of outsourcing difficult, traumatising work to grassroots organisations in the service of established cultural institutions, we should develop truly equitable partnerships where everyone can collaborate on their own terms. Only by doing this work, can a radical inclusive sector thrive.
Over the next year we’ll be sharing our learning, and we’re looking for institutions who want to address these imbalances.
If you want to be involved in the conversation, email: jess@rising.org.uk
If you want to support our challenge to power in other ways, please consider joining the Rising Alliance or increasing your regular donation.